Boy Blames Air Security Orders

Published 8:00 pm, Friday, April 5, 2002

A 14-year-old boy believes he got sick because airport security personnel made him take a drink from a bottle of untreated stream water he wanted to carry on an airplane so he could take it to school.

Elliot Gosko told the Aspen Daily News that he suspects he was infected by Giardia, a microorganism sometimes found in untreated water, but that tests aren't complete.

He said he became nauseous and missed two days of school last week after returning home to Pennsylvania from a visit to Aspen. The newspaper didn't give his hometown.

Security measures added since Sept. 11 require that passengers drink from liquids they are taking on an aircraft to prove the liquids are not dangerous, said Mike Fergus, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

However, Paul Turk, spokesman for the federal Transportation Security Administration, said airport security screeners can simply inquire about the contents of drink containers. He said there is no requirement that travelers drink from unsealed containers as proof of safety.

Fergus said Elliot never told security personnel at Aspen's Sardy Field what was in his bottle.

"If we had been told it was creek water there is no way we would have asked him to take a swig of it, unless we had reason to believe it was something else," Fergus said.

Elliot's father, George Gosko Jr., said he thinks the security agents went too far, but Fergus said they were just doing their jobs.

"I know the screeners were not told it was creek water and I'm sorry, obviously," Fergus said.